(Comments in italics are made by the GHM)

Contents:

1. An interview with the Roma singer Kostas Hatzis

2. Roma cut off a tree in order to put their tent in the middle of a park

3. Racist declarations of the Mayor of Evergetoulas in the Lesvos region

4. A profile of Roma singer Stathis Angelopoulos

5. The Roma of the Kato Tritos community of Lesvos were ousted from their    settlement

6. Eight NGOs call for the immediate temporary resettlement of the Roma of the Gallikos river

7. 29 street children gathered on the first day of the implementation of the new program on street children protection

8. Cases of criminal action of Roma

9. Tirnavos Roma protest for equal treatment

10. Efforts made so that the Roma of the Messinia region settle down permanently

11. Publication of a controversial Dictionary of the Romani language for the Roma of Thrace

12. Christmas celebration at a school for Roma literacy in Perdikorachi of the Trikala region

13. The president of the Progressive Left Coalition, Mr. Constantopoulos visits the Roma settlement at the Gallikos River

14. Roma and Albanians stole presents intended for the homeless Curd refugees

15. Christmas presents offered to Roma children

16. Presentation of books concerning Roma

 

1/12/1998: Nea, page 14

Only Love Can Save Us

The Roma singer Kostas Hatzis gives brief answers to thirty questions about his career, his life and his art. He says that the Roma dream for a better life and the verse "The Nails Were Made by the Gypsies" had a great impact on his life.

Mr. Hatzis is a well-known Roma singer in Greece. His Roma identity helps introduce him as a Roma representative, even if the interview is more about his success on the Greek music scene than about his ethnic origins.

1/12/1998: Nea, page 28

The Police Patrol Didn’t Come

The president of the Mountaineering Group of Athens Mr. Tsivelekas writes to complain about a Roma family that cut a four-meter-high tree which was near their tent in the middle of a park in Neo Phaliro. Mr. Tsivelekas says that he definitely loves Roma and other nomad culture, because they usually respect the environment. He adds, however, that the Roma of Athens have been largely alienated from their tradition. He describes that when he asked the Roma why they had cut the tree off, he got a rude and cynical answer. He says that he called the police, but after an hour and a half no patrol had arrived.

Although the writer of the letter declares that he respects the nomad culture of the Roma, he does not avoid generalizing the event and characterizing the Roma community of Athens as a whole. To that extent, he reinforces the stereotype of the dirty and disrespectful Roma.

3. Racist declarations of the Mayor of Evergetoulas in the Lesvos region

4/12/1998: Eleftherotypia

What If He Was a Racist?

The newly elected Mayor of Evergetoulas, Mr. Theodoros Vounatsis, declared on a local TV Station, that he would not allow Roma to settle in his municipality, because they would damage the tourist development of the region. He said that, although he was not a racist, he would force out the Roma who are settled in municipal property. "They may be residents in this community [of Kato Tritos, part of the municipality of Evergetoulas], but I did not ask for their votes", he added. Mr. Vounatsis was elected with the support of the Communist Party of Greece.

The Mayor’s declarations need no further comments. The article keeps an ironic tone by leaving the words speak for themselves.

6/12/1998: Epsilon magazine of Kyriakatiki Eleftherotpyia

What is the make of your clothes?

A Greek weekly in an article about the wardrobe of night performers of Athenian clubs includes comments by a Roma, Stathis Angelopoulos, who has become a popular singer. He declares himself to be Roma and to be influenced by "the Romani blood that runs in his veins." He explains that his choice of colors in his wardrobe is determined by his Roma origins.

5. The Roma of the Kato Tritos community of Lesvos were ousted from their settlement

7/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 67

Marching Orders Given to the Roma

The 21-year-old Rom, Prokopis Georgiou, father of three children, returned on Friday from a military drill to find out that his family and the other Roma of the settlement of Kato Tritos, where they had been living for years, had been forced to leave. He looked for them everywhere and finally found them at the port of Mytilini. Mr. Georgiou, a resident in the Kato Tritos community and a conscientious citizen fulfilling his military duty, decided to leave the island and settle in Athens. He declared that the Roma of the island were forced out from their settlement by the very hostile native residents. The head of the village, Mr. Theodoros Delogos, denied this saying that he had simply made some remarks to various Roma who were soiling the place. He added that the Roma had to leave the settlement, since it was settled at an olive grove and the olive crop had to be gathered.

11/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 46

Inspection on the Misery of the Roma

Eight NGOs, among which DROM Network, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group-Greece, issued a news release on the occasion of the 50^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In it, the NGOs accuse the Prefect of Thessaloniki of breaking the law for not implementing the decision on the resettlement of the Gallikos River Roma who live under dreadful and dangerous conditions. The NGOs call for the immediate settlement of the Roma in a section of the former military barracks of Gonou, until the infrastructure works in the rest of the barracks are completed. The Prefect did not accept temporary resettlement and announced that the infrastructure works would be completed by May 15^th, 1999.

11/12/1998: Avgi, page 8: Prefect Responsible for the Plight of the Roma

11/12/1998: Nea, page 14: For a Solid Ground

11/12/1998: Eksousia, page 50: Roma of Thessaloniki: Living with Fear

11/12/1998: Adesmeftos Typos, page 49: The 1,500 Roma Living Near the River - in Danger

11/12/1998: Rizospastis, page 24: Unbelievable Cynicism Towards the Roma

11/12/1998: Makedonia, page 15: They Live with the Fear of Overflow

11/12/1998: Thessaloniki, page 52: Resettlement is 18 Months Late

13/12/1998: Epohi, page 2: Roma’s Life – at the Mercy of the Rain and the Prefect of Thessaloniki

The news release of the NGOs was widely covered in the press and in a very positive way. Both national and local newspapers, regardless of their political preferences, adopt the points of the news release and strongly criticize the authorities for the situation created in the Gallikos river settlement.

7. 29 street children gathered on the first day of the implementation of the new program on street children protection

11/12/1998: Nea, page 12

Humanitarian Umbrella for 29 Street Children

Within the new program on the protection of street children of the Ministry of Public Order and the Ministry of Social Care 29 children, among them two Roma ones, were gathered yesterday. These children are going to be sent to the Aghia Varvara Professional School. Social workers of the Ministry will provide assistance to the parents of the children. Children whose parents do not come will be sent to educational institutions.

12/12/1998: Nea, page 11

29 Under-aged Street Children Find Shelter at the Center of the National Organization of Care

The 29 street children that were gathered the day before yesterday by the police spent their day at the Center of the National Organization of Care in Aghia Varvara. They were given clothes and food. They took a bath and had the chance to play in the special playrooms of the Center. According to the social workers, their health condition is very good. The people in charge try to locate the parents of the children and cooperate with them. In these families beggary is considered a legitimate kind of work for their children.

Two neutral reports, which describe the implementation of the new program for street children.

14/12/1998: Nea, page 20

Arrest of Roma

Two Roma started fire against policemen yesterday morning at Nea Liosia, when they were caught red-handed stealing aluminum from a local store. After a long chase, the policemen arrested one of the Roma - a 16-year-old boy.

16/12/1998: Nea, page 14

Diabolic Couple Try to Incriminate the Father

A 19-year-old woman and her lover seriously mauled the woman’s four-year-old child. When the mother of the woman found out what had happened, the 19-year-old threatened her and brought charges against the father of the child for mauling it.

28/12/1998: Nea, page 14

He Crushed into a Store with His a Truck

A 26-year-old Rom crushed a stolen truck into a store in Rhodes, because the owner did not want to help him. The young Rom was under the influence of drugs.

30/12/1998: Nea, page 19

Investigation in Aitoliko on the Blond Roma Child

A photo of a 10-year-old boy living at the Roma settlement near Aitoliko in the Messologi region and the information that the boy had been bought was interpreted by the police as leading to an English boy who had been abducted seven years ago on the island of Kos. The father of the Roma boy, however, provided the necessary documents and explained that the mother of the boy is a woman who is imprisoned.

All these reports describe the events in a lively, but rather neutral fashion. They avoid characterizing the whole Roma community because of the crimes of some Roma persons.

9. Tirnavos Roma protest for equal treatment

24/12/1998: Eksousia, page 49

Roma Claim Inalienable Rights

The Roma of Tirnavos organized a protest march and threatened to occupy the town hall asking for what is taken for granted by the rest of the population: water, electricity, garbage collection and equal treatment. This was the second protest march in a week. During the previous one they blocked the national road. In a resolution addressed to their fellow-townsmen, they accuse the ‘social elite’ of depriving them of basic facilities, although they are legal residents in the area. The newly elected mayor promised to bring the matter to the attention of the Municipal Council. Let’s hope so!

A very positive report, written in a compassionate style, standing by the Roma and adopting their claims.

20/12/1998: Epohi, page 14

Roma’s Good Luck and a Special Initiative May Help Permanent Settlement

The Kalamata Committee for Human Rights and against Racism succeeded in convincing the local authorities not to evict the Roma who had settled in the industrial region of Sperxogeia in the municipality of Messini. The municipalities of Kalamata, Messini and Meligalas agreed to create four settlements for the 2,000 Roma of the region. The Roma themselves talked about their problems at a public discussion organized by the Committee in their temporary settlement. 25 Roma children of the settlement are already registered at school. On the other hand there is still no water due to the strong reaction of the local population. The permanent settlement of the Roma will be part of a larger program on the regulation of the region.

An analytical report on the efforts made in the last years for a permanent solution of the problem related to the accommodation of the Roma.

18/12/1998: Avgi, page 12

The Left Progressive Coalition - Department of Xanthi Announces: ‘Problems of the minority should not be related to personal or supposedly national strategies’

The national policy towards the minority in Thrace is converted into a strange melting pot of personal interests and electoral strategies. Such activities would have been harmless, if they were not related to powerful public institutions. However, Mr. Emfietzoglou, irregular activities in Thrace are tolerated, if not incited, by the mass media, by various political and local authorities, by educational institutions and by the army. Minority education, the cultivation of a local dialect and the publication of a dictionary of the Romani language should not be dependent on the private interests of an entrepreneur. They should rather be the work of the State and the educational community. Mr. Emfietzoglou is not authorized to make scornful remarks about the elected authorities or to impose his own personal opinion concerning the region. The State should take its own responsibility and fill in its own gaps, because such personal practices have already taken their toll in Thrace.

21/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 47

First Dictionary of the Romani Language

The need to preserve the culture and the language of the Roma mobilized entrepreneur Prodromos Emfietzoglou, who sponsored the publication of a Dictionary of the Romani language. "We may have helped the Roma in a way, but they gave us much more, they gave us their love," said Mr. Emfietzoglou at the presentation of the Dictionary yesterday at the Hilton Hotel. The president of the Progressive Left Coalition Mr. Constantopoulos stressed the need to create a society of solidarity and tolerance instead of one of indifference and exclusion. The compiler of the dictionary, political scientist Mr. Liapis, praised Mr. Emfietzoglou’s initiative and noted that he had offered to sponsor a school for the Roma children in Thrace a year ago, but the State had not responded yet. The Roma representatives said that "first of all, we are Greeks" and that is why they should be treated as equal members of society.

21/12/1998: Paratiritis, page 4

Announcement of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) - Department of the Rodopi Prefecture

The notorious entrepreneur and contractor Mr. Emfietzoglou struck again. This time he presented a ‘Dictionary of the Roma’. First, serious matters like the education of Roma, one of the most vulnerable sectors of the working class, should not be treated by persons who have no governmental status. Second, do these members of the working class really need a dictionary, when they live in shacks with garbage all over the place and when their children don’t even go to school? If the State really wants to help, it should finance projects for the solution of their problems; everything else is suspicious and dangerous. Unfortunately, these dangerous initiatives were supported, along with the government and the New Democracy party, by the supposedly left party – the Progressive Left Coalition. The latter’s President attended the presentation of the dictionary. What do the local departments of the party have to say about this?

25-27/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 55

The dictionary we were given by Mr. Emfietzoglou not only made us admire his great work, but also strengthened our love for Thrace.

(The report is accompanied by a photo of the cover of the Dictionary of the Romani Language As Spoken by the Muslim Roma in Greek Thrace (Greek-Romani), written by Mr. Antonis K. Liapis).

The publication of the Dictionary of the Romani language was accepted in two different ways. The first one, expressed in the articles of Eleftherotypia, praises the activities of the sponsor, Mr. Emfietzoglou, and criticizes the government for not taking care of the development of the Roma and Pomaks of Thrace. The second one, expressed in the announcements of the two left parties, strongly criticizes the government for allowing an ambiguous entrepreneur to fill in the gap in the public policy towards the minority. According to members of the Muslim minority of Thrace, Mr. Emfietzoglou’s real goal is to separate the minority by giving preference to the Muslims of Pomak and Roma origin. These are believed to be harmless for the image of national homogeneity of the Greek State. At the same time the existence of Muslims of Turkish national consciousness is undermined and they are treated as a threat to Greek national interests.

12. Christmas celebration at a school for Roma literacy in Perdikorachi of the Trikala region

24/12/1998: Eksousia, page 48

Roma Children Don’t Celebrate Christmas. They Ask for a House Without Mud and Rain-water

During their Christmas celebration, the 45 Roma children who attend the Special School for Roma Literacy in Perdikorachi in the Trikala region had to say something about the inhuman living conditions and the discrimination they experience in their everyday life. The Prefect of Trikala advised them not to miss a single day of class and promised that the program would be continued at any cost. Maybe that promise is the best Christmas present for the children.

A very balanced report; sensitive but not sentimental, it combines the image of the joyous Roma with the one of their actual living conditions, while avoiding the trap of being picturesque.

28/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 47

Mr. Constantopoulos, along with members of the Progressive Left Coalition, visited the Roma settlement at the Gallikos River and offered presents to the Roma. He asked the government to put aside bureaucratic and political excuses and to look after the immediate resettlement of the Roma at the former military barracks of Gonou. He also described the living conditions at the Gallikos River settlement as inhuman and unacceptable. Mr. Constantopoulos has repeatedly contacted members of the government and the Prefect of Thessaloniki in order to hasten the resettlement of the Roma at the Gonou barracks. The Prefect refuses to do anything for their placement there before next April when the infrastructure works would be finished.

24/12/1998: Avgi, page 5: Constantopoulos Visits the Gallikos River Roma on Sunday

29/12/1998: Avgi, page 4: Social Solidarity Means Action, Not Words

On the occasion of Mr. Consantopoulos’ visit to the Roma of the Galikos River, the articles refer once again to the situation created there. They adopt Mr. Constantopoulos’ points and ask the authorities in charge to take immediate action.

14. Roma and Albanians stole presents intended for the homeless Curd refugees

28/12/1998, Apogeymatini, page18

Albanians and Roma Steal Presents for the Homeless Kurdish Children

Albanians and Roma plundered the humanitarian aid intended for the homeless Kurds living at Coumoundourou Square on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Early in the morning, they attacked the cars and the trucks of the Greek Red Cross and the people who were carrying food, medicine and clothes for the Kurds. Afterwards they sold their loot a few meters away.

The report speaks generally about Roma and Albanians, in a dangerous way. It risks stigmatizing the whole group of Roma and Albanians as the evil ones in comparison to the good suffering Kurds.

29/12/1998: Eleftherotypia, page 18

Members of the Women’s Network for the Quality of Life in the Countryside offered clothes and food to the Roma living at the settlement of the Gallikos River and criticized the government for lacking an appropriate social policy for the tent-dwellers. The Mayor of Thessaloniki gave presents to the Roma at the Dendropotamos settlement.

15/11/1998: Vima, page 4-5

The Small Drivers by Nitsa Tzortzoglou. A Rom girl who works on the street washing car windows meets a doctor who helps her make her dreams come true. In this book addressed to youngsters and adolescents the writer tries to describe the dreadful situation, which Roma children are faced with. This is important because youngsters are prone to be victims of well-founded stereotypes and thus develop a racist attitude towards the lower strata of society. However, the book is too optimistic, as it presents all the non-Roma people eager to assist the Roma.

People Don’t Like Reading Sad Stories by Maroula Kliafa. A powerful and honest book on the problems of the Roma settlements, written in a journalistic style.

God’s Caravan by Tasos Papapostolou. The philosophy of life of a Roma caravan in the 1950’s.

The Rom Flute by Bertrand Sole. The development of a French region and the efforts to resettle Roma living in trailers.

Roma and Racial Discrimination by Dimitris Doussas. An in-depth and passionate research on Greek Roma by someone who has lived for a long time at Roma settlements. The article refers to the historic origins of the Roma, describes the structure of their societies and presents the social problems they face. A study on the educational problems of the Roma and their reception in the Greek school community is also included in the book.